Today's Book: Albert premier, ou Adeline, comédie héroïque
Title: Albert premier, ou Adeline, comédie héroïque (Albert the First, or Adeline, a Heroic Comedie)
Author: Antoine Le Blanc de Guillet (1730-1799)
Publication: First published in French in 1775. Several printings were made in the 1770s.
Notes: A play in three acts about a widowed woman who is being threatened and slandered by an antagonistic gentleman; the emperor happens upon the woman's daughter and is inspired to help them.
The cost for the 1776 edition was 11 sols or only 6 sols if you were a subscriber.
Some parts of the play were very likely inspired by the very recent Flour War and the public's response to the new reign of Louis XVI. In one passage, a man complains to the emperor about storms that desolated the fields, and how the faithful people could only offer tears as tribute, to which the emperor responds that it will not be enough for him to free the poor from the tolls imposed by the law which they could not pay, but that he must also use the public treasury to relieve them.
Where you can read it: Available on Google Books in French: 1776 printing.
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